


You don’t know me (but do I know you either?)

by Bibliophile_812



Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: AU - 90s, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Falling In Love, Happy Ending, Misunderstandings, One Shot, POV Betty Cooper, bughead one shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27418957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bibliophile_812/pseuds/Bibliophile_812
Summary: Archie Andrews left his small hometown at the tender age of ten to move to Chicago with his parents, leaving his childhood best friends, Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge behind. Betty Cooper was distraught when her childhood crush Archie left Riverdale permanently. But she has kept in touch with him over emails. If she was not already crushing on him, she has definitely fallen head over heels for him during these eight years. There is one little problem though. She has posed as Veronica in all their communication.After eight years, they all are moving to NYC for their colleges. Betty has planned to reveal her true identity finally when they meet. That will be her only chance at the dream romance with her dream boy. But her plan did not include meeting Jughead Jones, Archie’s best friend from Chicago, brooding and mysterious and she can’t stop thinking about him. The connection she feels with him, is it only his looks and personality or there is something deeper between them?OrA cliché love story set somewhere in 90s when social media and smartphones were not there to broadcast every moment of our lives and when people used to write emails for communication with a long distance friend.
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 4
Kudos: 45





	You don’t know me (but do I know you either?)

**Author's Note:**

> Just an au set in 90s that nobody asked for. Do you remember the time when there were cyber cafes and desktops and we used to write long emails? Social media was not a 'thing'. Smartphones were yet to come. Whatsapp and facetime were only in fictions. If you did not experience that time as a kid, maybe you would not understand the context here. Or, maybe you would. I don't know. Alright, give it a try and let me know what you think. 🙂🙂

Betty triple checked the contents in her suitcase, Alice hovering near the door, ready to shove some extra clothes or homemade cookies into her luggage at the first opportunity. She felt a twinge of sadness, thinking about the impending separation with her family. The house has become quiet after Polly has left for her college two years ago. But now she cannot even start to think how her parents would live in the almost empty townhouse. No more sleepovers or baking sessions are going to happen here in near future. The giggling and chattering of girls’ nights will be a distant memory. She would miss this. The safety blanket of her pastel pink childhood bedroom, her parents, the quint town of Riverdale, burger and milkshakes from Pop’s, heart-to-hearts at locker, the work in Blue & Gold, her school newspaper. High school had its own struggles and nightmares but she thinks she is going to miss that life. She will definitely miss Kevin and Josie. Hell, she thinks she is even going to miss Cheryl’s hurtful comments at Vixen practice sessions. But it would be a blatant lie if she tells that she is not looking forward to her new life, moving to NYC. She would have her bestie, Veronica right by her side and she would meet her long-lost best friend, her childhood crush, Archie Andrews in New York.

Thinking about Archie sends a tingling sensation through her skin. It seems just yesterday, yet like previous life, when Archie used to live across the street. Archie, Veronica and Betty were the three musketeers of Riverdale. They became friends when they all went to the same day care. Their parents were also friends from high school. In a small town like Riverdale, the generations generally repeat their friendships. Three of them were inseparable throughout their elementary school. Just when they were starting middle school, Archie’s mother got a job opportunity in Chicago, lucrative package and other perks. His father decided to sell his construction business here and start afresh there. Their whole family moved to Chicago. Betty still remembers how she was unable to stop her tears with that news. They were next door neighbours. She always used to walk to school with Archie, holding his hand on the way there. When he used to swing their joined hands as he blabbered on about a million things, she would dream of their future, every day walking like this, hand in hand in the road of life. She knew that he preferred Veronica more as his friend than her. He was eager to sit beside Veronica in the class and wanted to have sleepovers at her place. But she believed that with time, Archie will see her true love for him. And Veronica never showed that much interest in him. Though she mentioned a few times that Archie was “cute”, she always encouraged the blonde in her crush, saying “you and Archiekins will get married someday.” There was not even one time when young Betty did not blush at that.

But that was then. This is now. Soon after Archie moved to Chicago, he wrote a few emails to Veronica. The brunette was too busy with her extracurriculars to read them and reply. She insisted Betty should talk to Archie knowing there was no way that Betty would pass up on that chance. Initially, Betty thought to reveal her true identity in email. But as time went on and she felt how Archie was eager to talk to “Ronnie”, she lost her courage. What if he stops communication once she tells him? Her nerves got better of her every time she thought of telling the truth. So, the spiel went on for eight long years, unknown to Veronica who was totally absorbed in her social life. Betty did not have a long queue of admirers like her. She only went on one date with Trev Brown in high school, on Veronica’s insistence of a double date. She wanted to wait for Archie. Their friendship flourished over years in email. Initially, their mails were short and tentative. She still remembers the day their exchange went from hesitant to elaborate. She shared the feedback about a book she just read, ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ and his reply was almost four pages long, expressing his thoughts on different parts of the book. She felt ecstatic that day. It was a small comfort that Veronica also read it and liked it. So, it was not a total lie about loving that book. As the years passed, she observed how they grew up to have the same interests, love for crime novels, addiction for classic movies and obsession for playing detectives. The conversation flowed easily. Sometimes she thought it was fascinating to feel so much connected to someone without meeting them for years. She enjoyed his sense of humour in his emails, dark and sarcastic. She could not match this Archie with the happy, loyal and puppy like personality of her childhood friend. But she was glad that he grew up to be an interesting man, not another stupid brainless jock who only cared for the number of girls they were sleeping with and football practice. He briefly mentioned about playing football and liking music but she was not very keen on those topics. Their conversation mostly revolved around sharing their favourite books and quotes and whatever new mystery she was working on for the school newspaper. She often felt guilty about posing as Veronica and sharing her own personal traits. But he shared her interests and likes. So, it was easy that way.

He once mentioned about his new acquaintance, Jughead Jones in Chicago. She only knew that they became fast friends once they were paired up for an English project on the first day of Middle School. She thought Jughead was an interesting name and Archie wrote back that was a rare reaction, most common one was, “Pardon?” She remembers laughing loudly when she read that email. Their email exchange was a touch of fresh air in her otherwise mundane routine. She thinks she connected with him more after he moved away. She even shared a couple of her early poems with him, she did not share with anyone else. He commented those were really good and she felt like walking on cloud nine for the rest of the week. They shared their views about their respective school newspapers. Betty refrained from stating that she was the chief editor of Blue & Gold, because that would be an easy enough lie to catch if Archie ever exchanges emails with anyone else from their school (a remote possibility, but it was still a possibility) and she had to protect her identity. But she discussed about the stories she wrote there. He also told her about his school newspaper Red & Black and the stories he worked on there.

She was content in their sarcastic banters and intellectual debates from behind the screen. So, when Archie informed her that he would be coming to New York for starting his college in NYU, she was unable to decide if she was happy to meet him at last or scared to face the truth. She was also going to New York to attend her classes in Columbia with Veronica who would be in Barnard. Finally, she called Veronica in a panicked state, hyperventilating over all the absurd what-if scenarios. Her best friend was at a loss for words for a good five minutes, which was the longest Betty has seen her speechless. Then, in a classic Veronica Lodge way, she decided to call and tell Archie everything. As per her logic, it was easier to do this over phone. But Betty did not want Archie’s heart to break. She also had a small hope that Archie will recognize that she was the one writing those mails all along when he would see her. She was definitely not gorgeous like Veronica, but she has hinted at different aspects of her personality in the emails and he seemed happy enough with that, intrigued even. So, who knows, maybe this was her best shot at starting her dream romance with her dream boy.

***

It was the first week of September but New York City weather was still hot and humid compared to Riverdale. Betty’s parents insisted to come with her, but she saw no reason for that as they decided to occupy one luxury apartment in the city that Veronica’s family owned, instead of moving to dorm. It was mainly for the raven-haired princess’s persistence, but Betty found herself more relaxed thinking about coming back to a spacious bedroom and her bestie at the end of every day. Veronica’s family owned apartment was in Lower Manhattan area. They reached early on Saturday, driven in the black limo of Lodges by Veronica’s personal chauffer, Smithers. After the four hours of car journey and being up for most of the previous night with nervous anticipation, she was exhausted. When they reached their destination, she managed to call her mother to give the news of their safe arrival, took a long shower and collapsed on bed. Veronica followed suit. The girls woke up around late afternoon, their stomachs grumbling for food. Betty quickly checked her email, the email she uses to communicate with Archie as Veronica. There was a new email, he has shared his number saying he finally bought a mobile for the ease of communication. He has mentioned that he would be coming to the city next day, with Jughead who was also attending NYU. As the girls ordered pizza to satisfy their stomach, Betty tried to train Veronica on the topics to talk to Archie. She would find a good time to tell Archie about the lie that has been going on for years. But for now, she did not want to overwhelm him. Maybe after they reconnect face to face, Archie would like her enough even without the emails. Because, she was there in the emails, she has described her darkest secret and deepest desires without any pretence there and he was always there. He thought it was Ronnie, but he liked the girl in the emails. That means he liked her. Now she wanted to know if he could see through her when they meet. Or, he would still be more inclined to believe that was Veronica who wrote them. Her best friend did not share her concern but she tried her best to humour Betty when the blonde set a question paper and started rehearsing a possible conversation with Archie for tomorrow.

***

The girls got ready after lunch to go pick up the boys from airport as planned. Betty was bubbling with nervous energy. She gave herself a onceover in the full-length mirror in her room. She wore a baby blue top, coupled with her denim skirt and converse shoes. She tightened her ponytail and coated her lips with another swipe of her pink lip gloss. Veronica was dressed in a purple coloured sundress and her signature pearls, her shiny raven hair splayed over her back, her 5-inch heels clacking against the wooden floor of their living room. She looked impeccable as always. Who would want to look at simple pastel wearing Betty Cooper when the beautiful brunette would be right beside her? She grabbed her purse absently as Veronica linked their arms and chattered about their classes starting next week. It took them around an hour to reach JFK airport from their apartment. Their flight was on time. By the time Betty managed to drag a highly complaining Veronica through the crowd to the arrival waiting area, they must have completed collecting their baggage. Betty saw them first, catching the unmistakable flash of red through a sea of brown and blonde. He looked…filled up. His shoulders were broad, chest hard and he was hovering over most of the people in crowd. Betty did not quite imagine him looking like this, to be honest, she did not even know what she expected exactly. She was too busy panicking over her little role play over years. But his kind brown eyes lit up as he saw them and a warm smile graced his lips. She heaved a sigh of relief. He made his way over to them in quick steps, a raven-haired boy trailing behind him. That must be Jughead Jones. He looked…bored and grumpy. He was almost as tall as Archie, though a lot leaner than him, he had a crown shaped grey beanie sitting atop his head and his midnight locks were tumbling over his forehead escaping the confines of his hat. He had a sharp nose and prominent jawline but the most fascinating feature was his eyes, they were impossibly blue, like the ocean in a stormy day. Betty shook herself to look back at Archie. It was her childhood friend she was interested in, her long-time crush who has grown up to be a very handsome man with an interesting personality and friendly smile. Her face faltered as Archie opened his arms and went straight for Veronica, engulfing the petite girl in a tight hug, “Ronnie! I missed you.”

Betty could not express how thankful she was for the fact that the sound of heart break is not audible. Because, at that moment, her heart was shattered into pieces but she maintained the polite smile, chewing her bottom lip to ignore the sting in her eyes. Somewhere she believed that Archie would recognize her signature from the emails. She was even hoping that he would know that she wrote the emails as soon as he saw her. Now, she looked at the pair who laughed at each other heartily and the way Archie looked at her best friend, all soft and mushy. Somebody cleared their throat from next to her. She turned and saw Jughead, standing there, his lips quirked and eyes showing some unreadable expression. Both her friends jumped apart. Veronica looked sheepish while Archie did not hide his obvious adoration for the dark-haired girl.

“Betty, how are you?” Archie gave her a one-arm hug, in a friendly way. She managed a small smile, “I’m good, Arch. How was your journey?”

“It was superb. Was not it, Jug?” the redhead tilted his head towards his friend. Jughead lifted one shoulder half-heartedly, “it was okay.” Then added after a beat, “at least no one from the crew tried to flirt with you this time.”

Veronica quirked one eyebrow at him, amused at the comment, “does that happen very often, Archiekins?”

“Don’t mind Jug. He is exaggerating”, Archie insisted.

“So, Jughead”, Veronica shifted her attention to the inky haired boy, “what kind of name is that, no offense.”

“None taken”, he chuckled. “And trust me when I say it’s one of the better responses to my name. Generally, people just gape at me or they assume they heard it wrong.”

“Is it a nickname?” Betty asked, curious.

“Kind of. The real one is worse.”

She nodded in understanding; she was not very happy with Elizabeth either. As the foursome walked to the parking lot, Veronica kept asking questions to the boys. Betty was zoned out there for a moment before Jughead’s soft voice broke her reverie.

“I thought Ronnie would be more like you.”

She stopped abruptly, her heartrate increased. “what do you mean?”

“I mean, I just assumed from whatever she wrote in her emails”, he suddenly looked nervous. “Archie told me about the mails.”

She gulped. In her mind, something seemed terribly off. She did not know what. Just then she caught the last bit of conversation between Archie and Veronica.

“Do you love partying, Archie?”

“Hell, yeah. I always like an audience for my music”, he replied enthusiastically. Jughead suddenly interjected, “when he is not chasing a new mystery or reading books.” The redhead raked his hand through his hair, nodding along, “yeah, that.”

Betty frowned. Archie never wrote anything about party or playing music for an audience.

***

The boys had a plan to crash at their friend Joaquin’s for few days before they could find an apartment near NYU. Archie laughed as he informed them that Jughead abhorred the idea of sharing a place with some stranger and so they decided to ditch living in dorm. The conversation was staggered as in response to Archie’s every question Veronica had to look at Betty for confirmation of her response. She did not ask many questions about Archie as Betty understood, she was trying to avoid the awkwardness. After years of written communication, they should have known many things about themselves, but they did not. On the other hand, Betty was puzzled to see Archie holding back about himself almost as much as Veronica did. With two of them not intending to discuss their own lives, their discussion turned to Betty and Jughead’s lives and Betty suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

“Jughead, what do you like to do in spare time?” Veronica asked, twirling the pearls in between her thumb and index finger. The raven-haired boy cleared his throat awkwardly, “I…uh”

“Jug writes”, Archie beamed at his friend, clearly proud of his achievements in writing. Veronica’s lips tugged upwards in a predatory smile, “And what, pray tell, do you write?”

When Jughead rubbed the back of his neck but kept quiet, Archie helpfully supplied, “He is working on his novel for some time now, non-fictional crime novel. He loves mysteries. What is that book you love so much?” The redhead looked thoughtful as he tried to recall the name of his best friends’ favourite book.

Jughead suddenly choked on his water. Archie abandoned his attempt to remember the book name and patted his friend gently on back, his eyes concerned. Veronica seemed unaffected by Jughead’s sudden choking, she tapped her fingers on her chin and commented, “Betty likes mysteries too. She was the chief editor of our school newspaper and she used to write a crime reporting column.”

This time it was Betty who broke into a coughing fit. By the time she calmed down, the discussion has taken a different turn, mostly towards a movie night.

“Quentin Tarantino. Archie loves Tarantino”, Jughead announced. Betty knew this. They had talked about Tarantino movies enough in their correspondence. Archie looked befuddled for a moment before he tried to look cheerful, “of course. He is the God of indie movies.”

Veronica just scrunched her nose, probably preparing for a retort when Betty jumped in, “V loves them too.” The raven-haired girl glared at her as she gave her the best puppy eyes. They could not blow their cover now. Not tonight.

With Reservoir Dogs loaded in the DVD player, they all relaxed in the Lodge luxury living room, Betty and Veronica taking up one couch while Archie and Jughead shared another. The movie went on, the bowl of popcorn with generous amount of freshly melted butter, that she prepared for the movie night was soon empty. She found herself murmuring along her favourite dialogues, adrenaline coursing through her veins even after watching the film for so many times. Within one hour into the movie, she heard soft sounds of snoring and turned to see Archie’s head loosely falling on Jughead’s shoulder, his eyes closed, breathing even. Jughead was on the edge of the couch, sitting straighter than she has seen him yet, gaze fixed on the screen. She angled her head slightly to see Veronica resting her head on one of the throw pillows, already quiet in slumber. She threw a quick glance back at Jughead, his concentration still solely dedicated to the movie. The same uneasy feeling from before settled in her stomach. Something was not adding up.

Jughead relaxed when the credits rolled and promptly nudged Archie to sit up. The redhead only grunted in his sleep. Looking up, his eyes met Betty’s and he offered in explanation, “we had a long day.”

She nodded, “it seems you also are a fan of Tarantino movies.”

“I…”, he gulped. “yeah, Archie and I bonded over our mutual love for classic movies.”

Although it did not look like the love was mutual, judging from Archie’s slumping position on the couch, who was she to comment on that? Veronica was fast asleep when as per their emails, she enjoyed these movies.

***

“I can’t do this anymore, B”, Veronica whined. The girls were lounging in Veronica’s bedroom. She was applying a fresh coat of purple paint on her toenails while Betty sprawled on her bed, nose buried in her copy of ‘Beloved’. She sat up, noticing the guilty tone in her friend’s voice.

“Archie likes you, V. He has always liked you, even before the emails.” She expected to sound wistful, but for some inexplicable reason she did not. It’s been two weeks since they met with Archie again. They all have gone out together a few times, including Jughead. In all those outings, she has observed Archie, confused with the obvious references from their email correspondence, not showing interest in either literary work or mystery solving, clueless when some Truman Capote reference was mentioned. Maybe it was the Archie she had a crush over in her childhood, but it was definitely not the Archie she fell in love with over last eight years. The more she sees Archie and Jughead, the more something else tugs at her heart. She does not connect with Archie the way she hoped to, but the stranger thing was she felt a strong connection to the other boy. The way his lips quirk when any classic movie reference is made, the way his eyes shine when he talks about his course in creative writing, the way he twirls the stray lock of hair on his forehead while concentrating hard on something, it all feel very familiar to her, like she has seen him doing all those things for a long time. He is practically a stranger, yet it seems she has known him from previous life. She almost does not want Archie to know about the emails anymore.

“B, Archie is in love with the girl who wrote those emails. I’m not that girl.” Veronica capped the bottle of nail polish carefully before stretching her legs out for drying the paint.

She does not really have a counter argument for that except that Archie was so much different than his emails.

“I’m telling him today”, the raven-haired girl concluded, disappearing into the en-suite bathroom. Betty sat there, lost in thought. In these two weeks, she has seen how Archie has been attracted to Veronica like a moth to the flame. Her best friend initially had inhibition about him knowing Betty liked him for a long time. Betty insisted her to pursue this relationship. Yes, she thought she fell in love with Archie when they constantly communicated over emails. But meeting him in person was so different. He was not anything she assumed from his correspondence. And, every time Archie asked Veronica out, the brunette dragged her along with the excuse of saving her from embarrassment if Archie asked anything in the lines of their email exchanges. She noticed that Archie also always brought Jughead along. Was it simply because Archie did not want Betty third-wheeling in their date? The awkward scenario of Archie asking anything about their shared information, never occurred. In fact, Archie never broached the topic of their emails. He insisted that he wanted to know Veronica in new light, now when they are able to meet in person. And to Betty’s utter surprise, she did not mind the idea of her two childhood friends dating. She was not upset anymore about Archie liking Veronica over her, or, Archie not realizing it was her who wrote the mails. Not when Jughead was there to accompany her in the dinner dates and long walks through central park. He always had something interesting to say that either piqued her attention or made her smile. She could not help but wonder how Jughead was more similar to the personality she fancied to be Archie’s.

***

Four of them occupied a booth in a small diner. Archie, Betty and Veronica gushed about Pop’s burgers and how it was totally unbeatable. Jughead took a big bite of his burger and commented, “someday I will visit your hometown only to taste these phenomenal burgers.”

“you should”, Betty assured him. She has seen him eating an obscene amount of food every time they went out eating. She pondered where he put all this, his body was undoubtedly fat-free, his S-t shirts hugging his body to show that even if he was not sturdy like Archie, he was quite well-built. Jughead raked his hand through his hair, knocking his beanie on the table in the process and she suddenly felt an urge to run her fingers through his midnight locks. It looked so soft.

“So, Ronnie”, Archie started, throwing an impressed look at Veronica, “I heard that you were a part of the cheerleading squad in high school.”

“He means, he read”, Jughead corrected, “in your emails.”

“Yes”, Veronica beamed, visibly relieved to have something common between the emails and her life, “I loved our practice sessions. It was tiring and Cheryl was a bitch sometimes but I enjoyed it a lot.”

“Archie was really mad at Cheryl Blossom for saying those terrible things to you. Were not you, Arch?” Jughead nudged the redhead in his ribs.

Archie exhaled, “yes, I was totally going to rip her tongue out.”

A look of confusion crossed Veronica’s features and Betty hurried to take control of the situation, “Cheryl was mean to everyone. Forget about it.” Veronica hummed in agreement.

Their discussion skirted through the topics of sports, politics, extra-curriculars to their reactions on college acceptance letters.

Archie proudly asked, “did you know, Jug got his admission in Yale? It was his dream school but he did not want to abandon me.” His face clearly showed how much grateful he was to have his best friend with him here.

But…was not it…Betty’s mind drifted towards one of Archie’s emails. He referred to Yale being his dream school. Although anything about acceptance in the said school was never written, she felt the pieces falling in right places. Jughead was suddenly very interested in examining one of the cracks on the formica table, avoiding all eye contacts with Veronica who was oblivious to any of this. Betty’s mind raced frantically, trying to fit all the information into their interaction over past couple of weeks. It matches. Everything makes sense now. She wanted to break into laughter at the absurdity of it all. It was like life played an elaborate prank on them. But then again, they were all prisoners of their own actions only. While she was busy keeping up the charade of Veronica actually writing those emails, she ignored all tell-tale signs from the other side. She always thought no one would be pathetic like her, trying to keep in touch with a boy, whom she believed she was falling for, even under a false name. But maybe someone else was also desperate enough to play this game.

After their lunch, Veronica proposed to go for a walk in the central park. She looped her arm through Archie’s and shot a look at Betty that clearly told her that the raven-haired girl was planning to spill the truth to him. The redhead looked pleased enough with the intimate position and led Veronica towards the park, Betty and Jughead tagging along, maintaining a respectable distance. Betty knew that was her chance to speak to Jughead. She had to talk to him. She thought she already knew but she needed to hear it from him.

“Walk with me?” she smiled up at him, offering him her arm. He looked surprised but linked her arm with his all the same, smiling. They walked lazily as he told her about the latest assignment he had from his course. Then, a companionable silence fell over them. That was the thing with Jughead. She was comfortable with him even when they did not talk.

“Jug”, she touched his arm lightly to make him stop. They were strolling through central park. Archie and Veronica ahead of them, their arms linked. She knew it would not be long before her best friend would divulge the secret to Archie. Jughead moved to a side, allowing others to pass.

“You know”, Betty met his eyes with a smile, “I loved the first poem Veronica wrote.” She could feel him stiffen beside her but pretended not to notice as she continued. “It was so full of innocence and dreams only a twelve-year-old girl would feel.”

When he did not say anything, she started recollecting the lines as if absentmindedly. But her focus was set on his reactions, the way his breathing became unsteady and the passive mask he was trying to wear came undone.

“It’s okay to follow your inner voice, it’s okay to make a bad choice. Sometimes it’s okay to take time to heal, but you cannot give up, that’s the deal. The universe will conspire with you if you might…”

She stopped there and acted as if she forgot the last part, “um…what was it then?” She slowly murmured few words unrelated to the poem and shook her head, unsatisfied, “No. I can’t remember the last line.”

“For a happy ending, you have to fight”, he blurted out and froze. She twisted her whole body to face him. The gleaming sunlight reflecting in the blue of his eyes, his hair ruffled in mild breeze, lips twitching after realizing his slip.

“How do you know this, Jug?”

“I…”, he rubbed his hand over his face. “Archie told me.”

“No, he did not”, she calmly stated. “I asked him about the poem. He did not have a clue what I was talking about.”

“Betty”, he inhaled sharply, his tone pleading.

But she ignored him, “You love Tarantino movies, Archie sleeps through them. You get any Capote reference from anywhere, Archie does not. Your favourite book is ‘In Cold Blood’, Archie is not interested in books. You write mystery novels. Your sarcasm finds its way into every conversation which half the time Arch does not even understand.”

“Betty, I can explain”, he tried again.

“It was you who wrote those emails, Jug. It was you whom she fell in love with.”

“Trust me, I did not mean to hide my identity. Archie begged me to write for him, he wanted to impress Ronnie and he thought that I was good with words. It started as a small help to my best friend but it went out of hand. Before I realized, I was so deep in it, I did not even know the way out. Well, honestly, I did not want any way out.” He paused to take a deep breath. “I fell in love with her too.”

“You did?” she could not hide the hopefulness in her voice.

He frowned slightly, “Yes…I…wait. The poem…no one else was supposed to know that…it was our secret.”

She smiled, in a way she hoped it to be enigmatic, “it still is.”

“You”, he exclaimed, gears turning in his head, his eyes piercing through her bare soul, “It was you all along.”

She laughed, mixed with the tears of joy and relief, “Yes, Juggie. It was us all this time.”

“Betty, do you…um”, he licked his lips and her gaze followed the movement intently. “Do you still…I mean does your feelings change knowing that it’s me?”

“I love you, Jughead Jones. I have always loved you, even before seeing you. But now you are here, I think I love you more, if that’s even possible.” She confessed, open and honest.

He shuffled closer to her, cupping her face in his hands, “Betty Cooper, I love you. I hid all my feelings because I thought it was Ronnie who wrote those emails and Archie loves her. I did it to help Archie, not to blindside him and start a relationship with his girl. But when I saw you two, something did not add up. She was so different from her mails and you were…”

“Jug”, she interrupted, her fingers curling around his wrists, “shut up and kiss me already.”

He was caught off-guard. His eyes widened and lips parted. She took the opportunity to stand on her tiptoes and catch his lips with her own. He returned the kiss hungrily, his hands going back to grip her waist, her hands went up to tangle her fingers through his soft curls. The kiss was everything she ever imagined and more. Their mouths explored each other in a passionate dance for dominance. Their lips fitted like two puzzle pieces. Her body melted into his as he held her tighter. She could feel the beating of his heart against her chest. A breathy moan escaped her throat as warmth spread throughout her entire body.

They were vaguely aware of approaching footsteps, but did not pay any attention to them. They were too busy making up for their lost time.

“Um…Ronnie, do you think they know?”

“I bet they do, Archiekins.”


End file.
